Nigel Farage and Reform UK have ditched their “boys’ club” image and are increasingly winning over female voters. The recruitment of high-profile women such as Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns, a former Tory MP, and by-election winner Sarah Pochin, may have softened the party’s image.
But Mr Farage said there was also evidence that female voters are growing more concerned about issues which Reform has traditionally focused on such as immigration. Reform’s failure to appeal to women has held back its election chances in the past but is no longer an issue according to polling by More in Common, which found the party has gained 14 percentage points among female voters since the general election, while Labour has lost 12.
It is the most popular party among women aged 45 to 60, and among those aged 61 to 75, but comes second to the Tories with women over the age of 75 when voters are asked who they could support at the next election.
The party is backed by 22 percent of “millennial” women aged 29 to 44, and by 19 percent of those in so-called Generation Z, aged 18 to 28.
In an interview with the Spectator, Mr Farage said he noticed during May’s Runcorn and Helsby by-election that women were becoming more worried about immigration and hotels housing asylum seekers. He said: “Runcorn was an awakening for me. We started getting women, not just mums, much older women too, saying, ‘Have you heard what’s happening in that street? There’s 15 of them in there’.”
Polling also found that voters who are worried about the cost of living are increasingly coming to believe Reform could help.
More in Common Executive Director Luke Tryl said: ‘Our conversations with Gen X women find them among the most disillusioned with the status quo. Some are struggling to make ends meet at a time when they thought they would be winding down.” He said: “As this group have become disappointed in Starmer’s ability to bring about the ‘change’ they voted for, the appeal of Reform is starting to grow.’”
However female voters dislike Mr Farage’s apparent close relationship with US President Donald Trump, surveys show.